Awards
Awardees for Outstanding Eye and Vision Research
Early Career Cataract Research Award (New for 2025)
This award will be given by the NFER to an individual in the early stages of their career who has made significant contributions to Lens and Cataract Research and shows promise of becoming a future leader in the field. Candidates for this award may be either pursuing their terminal degree, or within 10 years of receiving that degree or completing clinical training at the time the award is conferred. This award will be given for the first time in December, 2025 and thereafter every 2 years at the biennial International Conference on the Lens. The award consists of a plaque and an honorarium of $2500 and the recipient is expected to attend the ICL Meeting.
Nominations for the 2025 award may be made through the NFER website beginning on July 1, 2025. The nominator must submit a letter on an appropriate institutional letterhead outlining the qualifications of the nominee along with the nominee’s current CV. To be considered for the 2025 award, nominations must be received by September 15, 2025. Nominations will be evaluated by the Trustees of the NFER and the recipient will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Productivity and Track Record
- Publications (quality and authorship)
- Presentations, awards, and recognitions
- Research funding
- Scientific merit
- Contribution to the field
- Potential to advance understanding, diagnosis, or treatment of cataract
- Future potential and career development
- Clear research vision and goals
Inquiries concerning the award should be addressed to Thomas W. White, PhD (NFER Trustee) at thomas.white@stonybrook.edu.
Cataract Research Award
This award has been given by the NFER beginning in 1999. With the inception of the Early Career Cataract Research Award, the Cataract Research Award will be directed toward an individual at mid-career or later who has produced a body of research that has significantly impacted the Lens and Cataract field. Nominees will be judged not only on the depth and originality of their research contributions, but also on their service to the community and their leadership qualities. The award is presented every 2 years at the biennial International Conference on the Lens. Beginning in 2025 the awardee will receive a plaque and an honorarium of $5000. The recipient will also give a short, non-scientific presentation at the ICL meeting describing their background and lens career path.
Nominations for the 2025 award must be made through the NFER website beginning July 1, 2025. The nominator must submit a letter on an appropriate institutional letterhead outlining the qualifications of the nominee along with the nominee’s current CV. Nominations must be received by September 15, 2025. Nominations will be evaluated by the Trustees of the NFER and the award recipient determined according to the following criteria:
- Sustained research excellence
- High-quality, peer-reviewed publications
- Depth and originality of research contributions
- Influence on current understanding, treatment, or management of cataract
- Consistency of impactful research over time
- Service to the community
- Contributions to building the cataract research community
- Roles in professional societies, editorial boards, or scientific committees
- Mentorship and leadership
- Supervision and mentoring of students and early-career researchers
- Evidence of leadership at local and international level
Inquiries concerning the award should be addressed to Velia Fowler, PhD (NFER Trustee) at vfowler@udel.edu.
Past Winners:
Dan Boyle, Ph.D.
- Division of Biology
- Kansas State University
- Manhattan, Kansas
K. Krishna Sharma, Ph.D.
- Department of Ophthalmology
- University of Missouri
- Columbia, MO
Alan Shiels, Ph.D.
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science
- Washington University
- St Louis, MO
Marc Kantorow, Ph.D.
- Department of Biology
- West Virginia University
- Morgantown, WV
Ales Cvekl, Ph.D.
- Department of Ophthalmology
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine
- New York, NY
Usha P. Andley, Ph.D.
- Department of Ophthalmology
- Washington University School of Medicine
- St. Louis, MO
J. Fielding Hejtmancik, M.D., Ph.D.
- Ophthalmic Genetics and Visual Function Branch
- National Eye Institute
- Bethesda, MD
David Wan-Cheng Li, Ph.D.
- Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Ophthalmology
- University of Nebraska Medical Center
- Omaha, NE
Roger Truscott, Ph.D.
- Save Sight Institute
- University of Sydney
- Sydney, NSW, Australia
Kirsten Lampi, Ph.D.
- Department of Integrative Biosciences
- Oregon Health Sciences University
- Portland, OR
Xiaohua Gong, Ph.D.
- School of Optometry
- University of California, Berkeley
- Berkeley, CA
Thomas W. White, Ph.D.
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics
- State University of New York
- Stony Brook, NY
Hiroshi Sasaki, M.D., Ph.D.
- Department of Ophthalmology
- Kanazawa Medical University
- Kanazawa, Japan
P. Vasanth Rao, Ph.D.
- Department of Ophthalmology
- Duke University
- Durham, NC
Paul J.. Donaldson, Ph.D.
- Department of Optometry and Visual Sciences
- University of Auckland
- Auckland, New Zealand
Larry David, Ph.D.
- Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry
- Oregon Health and Science University
- Portland, OR
Kevin Schey, Ph.D.
- Biochemistry, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
- Vanderbilt University
- Nashville, TN
Ian Michael Wormstone, Ph.D.
- School of Biological Sciences
- University of East Anglia
- Norwich, United Kingdom
Steven Bassnett, Ph.D.
- Department of Ophthalmology
- Washington University School of Medicine
- St. Louis, MO
Janice L. Walker, Ph.D.
- Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology
- Thomas Jefferson University
- Philadelphia, PA
Frank J. Lovicu, Ph.D.
- Department of Ocular Cell and Developmental Biology
- The University of Sydney
- Sydney, Australia
Catherine K. Cheng, Ph.D.
- Indiana University School of Optometry
- Indiana University
- Bloomington, IN
Salil A. Lachke, Ph.D
- Department of Biological Sciences
- University of Delaware
- Newark, DE
- Department of Physiology
- University of Auckland
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Schmidt College of Medicine
- Florida Atlantic University
- Boca Raton, Florida
- Department of Physiology
- University of Auckland
- Auckland, New Zealand
Kinoshita Lectureship
The Kinoshita Lectureship, the most prestigious award bestowed by the lens and cataract research community, honors the work and leadership of Dr. Jin H. Kinoshita. First as a Harvard Professor at the Howe Laboratory of Ophthalmology and then for many years as the Scientific Director at the National Eye Institute, NIH, Dr. Kinoshita made seminal contributions to our understanding of the biology of the normal lens and the process of cataractogenesis. His leadership and commitment to making lens and cataract research an international and collaborative endeavor were crucial to the development of the field as we know it today. The National Foundation for Eye Research is honored to be entrusted with administering this award.
The Kinoshita Lectureship, established in 1989, was initially awarded biennially at the US Japan Cooperative Cataract Research (US-Japan CCRG) Meeting now known as the International Conference on the Lens (ICL ). The Lectureship consists of a plaque and $ 20,000 honorarium and the recipient will present a 45 minute plenary lecture on their lens and cataract research at the 2025 ICL. Nominations for the 2025 award must be made through the NFER website beginning on July 1, 2025. The Nominator must submit a letter on an appropriate institutional letterhead outlining the qualifications of the nominee along with the nominee’s current CV. Nominations must be received by September 15, 2025. All nominations will be evaluated by the Trustees of the NFER according to the following criteria:
- Scientific impact
- Groundbreaking discoveries in cataract pathophysiology
- Introduction of novel concepts or techniques
- Paradigm-shifting ideas in lens and cataract research
- Recognition and influence in the field
- Prestigious publications, citations, awards, or keynote addresses
- International collaboration and leadership
- Service to the community
- Contributions to building the cataract research community
- Roles in professional societies, editorial boards, grant reviewing, or scientific committees
- Mentorship and Legacy
- Mentoring of early-career researchers
- Sustained leadership in academic or professional settings
Any inquiries concerning the award should be addressed to Julie Lim, PhD (NFER Trustee) at j.lim@auckland.ac.nz
Past Winners:
Leo T. Chylack, M.D.
- Professor and Director
- Center for Ophthalmic Research
- Brigham & Women’s Hospital
- Harvard University
- Boston, MA
J. Samuel Zigler, Jr., Ph.D.
- Chief Laboratory of Mechanisms of Ocular Diseases
- National Eye Institute
- National Institutes of Health
- Bethesda, MD
Peter F. Kador, Ph.D.
- Chief, Laboratory of Ocular Therapeutics
- National Eye Institute
- National Institutes of Health
- Bethesda, MD
Abraham Spector, Ph.D.
- Professor and Director
- Ophthalmology Research
- Columbia University
- New York, NY
Joseph Horwitz, Ph.D.
- Professor
- Jules Stein Eye Institute
- UCLA School of Medicine
- Los Angeles, CA
James L. Rae, Ph.D.
- Professor
- Department of Physiology
- Mayo Clinic
- Rochester, MN
Kenshi Satoh, Ph.D.
- Professor Emeritus
- Science University of Tokyo
- Chiba, Japan
Joram Piatigorsky, Ph.D.
- Chief, Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Biology
- National Eye Institute
- National Institutes of Health
- Bethesda, MD
Frank Giblin, Ph.D.
- Professor of Biomedical Sciences
- Director, Eye Research Institute
- Oakland University
- Rochester, MI
Marjorie Lou, Ph.D.
- Willa Cather Professor of Biomedical Sciences
- University of Nebraska at Lincoln
- Lincoln, NE
Johnston (John) William McAvoy, Ph.D.
- Sydney Medical Research Foundation Professor of Experimental Ophthalmology
- Director of Laboratory Research, Save Sight Institute
- University of Sydney
- Sydney, Australia
Roger John Willis Truscott, Ph.D.
- Professor
- Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute
- University of Wollongong
- New South Wales, Australia
Robert Augusteyn, Ph.D.
- Visiting Professor
- University of New South Wales and University of Miami
- Past Director
- National Vision Research Institute of Australia
- Ivanhoe, Australia
Richard T. Mathias, Ph.D.
- Professor
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics
- Health Sciences Center
- State University of New York at Stony Brook
- Stony Brook, NY
K. Krishna Sharma, Ph.D., FARVO
- Professor
- Director of Research, Department of Ophthalmology
- University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
Roy A Quinlan, Ph.D.
- Emeritus Professor of Biomedical Sciences
- Department of Biosciences,
- The University of Durham
- `Durham, UK
- Senior Investigator, Ophthalmic Molecular Genetics
- National Eye Institute
- National Institutes of Health
- Bethesda, MD